ETD: 689 Need Cash Register; Cash-Richer Consumers; U.S.
E-Commerce Shatters Non-Holiday Record; EarthLink Has New Way To Put a
Lid on Spam E-mail; Five Retailers Make Forbes Fastest Growing Big
Companies list
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Tue, 27 May 2003 07:25:10 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0689 May 27, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Need Cash Register
[3] U.S. E-Commerce Shatters Non-Holiday Record
----- ---- --- -- -> Important Offer <- -- --- ---- ---- --
[4] EarthLink Has New Way To Put a Lid on Spam E-mail
[5] Five Retailers Make Forbes Fastest Growing Big Companies list
[6] Cash-Richer Consumers
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Hope our US members had a nice Memorial Day weekend, both for personal and
business reasons. For those of us who identify Memorial Day sales as part
of our business plan, how was it this year?
One of our list members is seeking help on equipment needed to operate a
new store, from which he may also launch a unique wholesale business. I
know we have a number of independent retailer members. Any advice would be
appreciated.
Interesting to note how E-Commerce has shattered all records in 2002
according to the US Census Bureau, posting consistent double-digit gains
throughout the economic slump. Guess this Internet is not going to be
another pet rock eh? This ties in with the fact that consumers seem to
have more cash to spend. Are you getting your share?
Forbes reports five retailers on the fastest growing big companies
list. Guess who they are?
We have a final note on Spam - a new service from Earthlink. I don't agree
with it, and believe the approach taken by Microsoft may work better -
pursue and sue the spammers (my spam level is now over 90%). What do you
think?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
Dr. George Matyjewicz
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Need Cash Register
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We are opening up an Ice Cream Store in CT and we are looking for advice on
a cash register. We would like to obtain some management information.
Any suggestions?
Also, we may do wholesale, once he gets established. To upscale
restaurants that want to carry "home made" ice cream.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jim D.
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[3] U.S. E-Commerce Shatters Non-Holiday Record
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In total, the Census Department reported that e-tail sales for all of 2002
came in at $45 billion -- but private research provides an even more
optimistic view. A recent report from Shop.org and Forrester estimated 2002
e-commerce sales totaled $76 billion.
U.S. e-commerce sales rose more than 25 percent year over year in the first
quarter, setting a record level for a non-holiday quarter of nearly US$12
billion.
Specifically, sales were estimated at $11.921 billion, a 25.9 percent
increase over the same period in 2002, when sales totaled $9.47 billion. As
expected, sales were well off the fourth quarter of 2002, when they set a
record of $13.7 billion.
E-commerce sales continued to outpace overall retail purchases. Total
retail sales rose just 4.4 percent year over year. As a result, e-commerce
captured 1.5 percent of all sales, the biggest fraction ever in a
non-holiday quarter.
In fact, e-commerce has posted consistent double-digit gains throughout the
economic slump. Only once since 2000 have sales grown less than 20 percent
in a quarter.
The data is based on a survey of some 11,000 U.S. retailers and is subject
to revision and adjustment based on seasonal changes.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21586.html
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[4] EarthLink Has New Way To Put a Lid on Spam E-mail
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EarthLink says the system, which is already available from several small
companies for free, will be optional and free for its 5 million subscribers.
One of the USA's largest Internet service providers is about to deploy what
may be the best line of defense so far in the war against unwanted e-mail.
EarthLink on Tuesday will introduce anti-spam technology, dubbed
challenge-response, that could prevent spammers from flooding the Internet
and corporate e-mail systems with billions of automatically generated
e-mail messages. If successful, the technology could put a lid on those
annoying ads hawking home mortgages, pornography and miracle drugs that
account for more than half of all e-mail.
Here's how it works: Anyone who sends e-mail to a challenge-response user
quickly receives an e-mail asking them to prove they are a live person.
They do so by copying a series of numbers displayed on their computer
screen and returning the message. Their original message is then allowed
through. Verification needs to be performed just once, and future e-mails
from the same e-mail address are recognized. Blocked messages are sent to a
suspect mailbox, which customers can view.
The system lets users create approved e-mail address lists so family,
friends and business associates are spared e-mail challenges. It also has a
feature to generate additional e-mail addresses to purchase goods online.
Many vendors send sales-confirmation notices via e-mail.
EarthLink says the system, which is already available from several small
companies for free, will be optional and free for its 5 million subscribers.
Microsoft -- which, like other major spam targets, fights spam with
software filters and litigation -- also is considering the
challenge-response technology, the company says. Yahoo last month deployed
a variation of challenge-response whenever a subscriber sends an unusually
high number of e-mails. It declared Thursday global anti-spam day.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21590.html
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[5] Five Retailers Make Forbes Fastest Growing Big Companies list
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No less than five retailers make our list of the 25 fastest-growing big
companies. The top two retailers on the list, Sonic Automotive and United
Auto Group, landed there primarily due to the tremendous consolidation
going on amongst auto dealerships--typically a very entrepreneurial arena.
Sonic Auto, which nabbed the top fastest-growing spot, has snapped up 31
dealerships in the last year alone, while United, which ranks as the
tenth-fastest-growing outfit, bought 72 dealerships during the same period.
The other three fast-growing retailers on our list are stores of the more
traditional sort. Department store Kohl's came in at 12, while home
improvement chain Lowe's was number 19 and discounter Dollar General ranked
22nd.
Kohl's sells bath towels while Dollar General traffics in paper towels and
Lowe's trades in two-by-fours. But what each of these outfits has in common
is a particular knack for serving up good merchandise values with a lot
less hassle than their primary competitors, according to Peter Brown,
chairman of Atlanta-based retail research firm Kurt Salmon.
Dollar General's 6,000-odd stores stock many of the same things as
Wal-Mart, from household cleaners and health and beauty aides to food and
clothes. But because their locations are so much smaller they can be
positioned in more highly populated areas that don't have room for a store
the size of several football fields. That means Dollar Generals are much
easier to get to than a Wal-Mart--and a whole lot faster to navigate once
you're inside. And like Wal-Mart, according to Will Ander, an analyst with
the Chicago retail consultancy McMillan Doolittle, Dollar General's prices
also beat supermarket and drugstore prices.
Faster, easier shopping trips also are much of what's fueling Lowe's
growth, which has gained from merchandising missteps by competitor Home
Depot. Both chains have seen a windfall in the last five years thanks to
record home-buying due to low mortgage rates and, in turn, lots of remodeling.
Details at...
http://www.forbes.com/2003/05/22/cx_pp_0522biggrowth.html
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[6] Cash-Richer Consumers
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Everybody knows that unemployment is running at 6.0%, the highest rate
since 1994. The Bush administration says its tax-cut plan will help by
creating 1.4 million jobs. That's good--if it happens. But even without the
tax cut, the economy has quietly added 1.25 million jobs since December.
This increase in the number of employed as recorded by the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics household survey is the single brightest light in the
consumer sector of the economy according to Carl Steidtmann, chief
economist for Deloitte Research. Indeed, Steidtmann says that consumer
liquidity overall--cash in people's pockets--is increasing because of three
factors: jobs, savings and refinancings.
That extra cash, if put to work, could give the overall economy a boost.
Consumers, who have been credited with supporting the flagging economy,
seem poised to save the day once again.
On the jobs front, observers often disregard the rise in overall employment
that has been going on lately if it doesn't affect the unemployment rate,
which it has not. But according to Steidtmann, the household survey, as
distinct from the survey of employers, is a better leading indicator of
economic prospects since individuals "respond in ways that reflect
positively on themselves." For example, if someone is about to be hired, he
might record himself as employed--even if the human-resources department
hasn't put him on the payroll just yet.
But slightly better job prospects aren't the only reason consumers have
more money to spend. Consumers have been increasing their savings rate,
partly in response to uncertain times, partly to reduce debt piled up
during the boom years. Personal savings rates have rebounded to more than
3.5% of income for the past three quarters, according to the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis. That rate is still a far cry from where savings were in
the mid-1990s. But it's much better than the fourth quarter of 2001, when
the savings rate dipped below 1%.
Mortgage refinancing has given consumers another infusion of cash. Interest
rates at four-decade lows have not just sustained the housing market during
recessionary times; they have allowed consumers to refinance their
mortgages at lower rates, freeing up cash for other purposes. The recent
decline in oil and gasoline prices, a direct consequence of the end of the
U.S. defeat of Iraq, has the same effect, as will the planned $400 boost in
the child-care tax credit, assuming it is signed into law. In sum,
consumers have more to spend--an average of about $1,000 per person since
just after 9/11, according to the BEA .
Details at...
http://tn01.com/forbes/sbct.cgi?s=434545284&i=802371&m=1&d=4579972
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